Seabird Databases

The Atlas of Seabirds of Portugal represents the largest compilation to date of data on the distribution and abundance of seabirds and coastal birds that use Portuguese waters. https://www.atlasavesmarinhas.pt/

AS@S is a collaboration between BirdLife South Africa and the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). http://seabirds.saeon.ac.za/

Birdtree.org is a web application that allows users to explore the complete phylogeny of avian species as it is currently known. https://birdtree.org/

The Circumpolar Seabird Data Portal is an interactive map that displays seabird colony, population, and diet records throughout the circumpolar north. This is a work in progress, so please contact the database holder for updates. http://axiom.seabirds.net/maps/js/seabirds.php?app=circumpolar

eBird data document bird distribution, abundance, habitat use, and trends through checklist data collected within a simple, scientific framework. https://ebird.org/explore

​European Seabirds At Sea (ESAS) assembles offshore monitoring data on seabirds and marine mammals. This international database mostly includes data from the North Sea, yet large parts of the Northeastern Atlantic Ocean are covered as well. https://www.ices.dk/data/data-portals/Pages/European-Seabirds-at-sea.aspx

GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world’s governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth. https://www.gbif.org/

The Global Seabird Data Portal is an interactive map that displays worldwide seabird colony, population, and diet records. This is a work in progress. http://axiom.seabirds.net/maps/js/seabirds.php?app=global

​MAPPPD (Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics) is an open-access decision support tool for managers, scientists, and the general public. https://www.penguinmap.com/

BirdLife International’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) programme identifies the most critical sites for site-based conservation efforts. To date, over 10,000 IBAs have been identified globally. The program has been used to set conservation priorities in terrestrial environments for over 30 years. https://maps.birdlife.org/marineibas/

New Zealand Birds Online is a searchable encyclopedia of New Zealand birds. You can find detailed information about all 457 species of New Zealand birds, including all living, extinct, fossil, vagrant, and introduced bird species. https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) contains survey transect data designed and conducted by numerous partners primarily to census seabirds at sea. The NPPSD includes more than 486,000 transect segments and includes observations of over 20 million birds of 258 species collected over the span of 50 years (from 1973 to 2022). https://www.usgs.gov/centers/alaska-science-center/science/north-pacific-pelagic-seabird-database?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

OBIS-SEAMAP, Ocean Biogeographic Information System Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations, is a spatially referenced online database, aggregating marine mammal, seabird and sea turtle observation data from across the globe. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/

The Pacific Seabird Monitoring Database (PSMD) captures and disseminates all salient information from seabird monitoring conducted over a large expanse of the North Pacific Ocean. The format is annual observation records, grouped as time series, that depict the levels and variability of selected population parameters for a given species and location. https://psmd.app/

The Seabird Monitoring Programme Online Database provides data from monitoring coordinated by the Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP). https://app.bto.org/seabirds/public/data.jsp

A unique global product presenting practitioners with real world examples of  active seabird restoration efforts from around the world. https://www.seabirddatabase.org/

A platform for seabird researchers to share their tracking data with the research and conservation communities. https://data.seabirdtracking.org/

SeaLifeBase is a free web-based information system on multi-cellular marine organisms other than fish (seabirds included). It developed with FishBase.org (for all fishes) and the Seas Around Us Project (reconstructed marine catches). It contains information on the ecology, distribution, and life history of the organisms covered. https://www.sealifebase.ca/search.php

SeaScribe is a data collection tool for offshore wildlife surveyors specifically designed to make surveying efficient and to standardize data entry and output. It provides an easy-to-use, intuitive application for the collection of wildlife survey data including geo-referenced effort and observation data. https://briwildlife.org/seascribe/

Tagging of Pelagic Predators began in 2000 as one of 17 projects of the Census of Marine Life, an ambitious 10-year, 80-nation endeavor to assess and explain the diversity and abundance of life in the oceans and where that life has lived, is living, and will live. https://gtopp.org/

The Threatened Island Biodiversity database is the most comprehensive global review of IUCN Threatened Species breeding on islands and at risk from invasive vertebrates. http://tib.islandconservation.org/

The Waterbird Populations Portal (WPP) online database provides current and historic estimates, trends and 1% thresholds for over 800 waterbird species and 2300 biogeographic populations worldwide.  https://wpe.wetlands.org/